Hello New England Fans

[shmessy]

U afraid of Denver in Denver, where Ravens and Vikings almost upset them?

Any given Sunday.

Remember the Raider game in Foxboro last year? Pats still won the Super Bowl, right?

Don't discount the Broncos solely on the Ravens and Vikings games.

 

[MassPats38]

I never understood this view that 'elite' QBs win titles no matter what. David Carr was touted as a Manning or Luck level talent with phenomenal upside, but the guy was sacked 76 times when thrown into the fire as a rookie, and was never the same (Brady's ability to "feel the pressure" last year was tested at the beginning of the season, and he did take hits and sacks when the line play was atrocious at the beginning of the season - he was not a rookie) and over 6 years of 3-5 sacks per game the guy was broken (Bulger took over from Warner, and broke in two years of that). Any view of Brady behind that Texans line flinging missiles when he never had a chance to develop is ludicrous. Any thought that the poorly designed Texans team would be winning titles with Brady in those years because it had Brady is similarly absurd. It is a team sport. Teams have a hard time winning titles without a great QB, but they have. Great QBs in the Hall of Fame haven't won titles, yet somehow found their way to Canton.

The Cowboys are afflicted with Jerry Jones the GM, who never tried to build a team. Like Al Davis, he wanted the flashy players, often viewed as the colossal busts, who would bring in ticket sales rather than wins. The fantasy football world loves these divas for the stats, and hate it when the Pats bring in guys like LaFell, who aren't rock stars, but forget that is how teams actually win games - with a complete roster. Romo has been snake-bitten (everyone remembers the hold, and 4th quarter interceptions), but the guy has had to throw behind horrible lines and for teams that had no defense for years. He kept them in games that should have been blowouts, and some of those interceptions were because he had to throw without a running game (because there was no offensive line). The Boys finally gave him an offensive line, and he looked very good last year.

Romo statistically is very strong in the 4th quarter, when it matters. These stats are done by year, so I have no desire to do a comparative analysis of every QB in the NFL (I saw an article saying he has the highest QBR in the 4th quarter with stats since 2006). Would I trade him for Brady? Not on your life. Is he very good at what he does? Yes.

Brady was at least drafted. This guy was undrafted from a smaller school. Not bad, given the path to get to the NFL.

 

[Tunescribe]

I am a Dallas Cowboys fan (that's the part where you scoff, roll your eyes, or express some other emotion of disgust, pity and contempt).

Meh ...

 

[tasmlab]

Tell the Dallas OC to not conflate lots of plays and yards with points. Belichick seems to love letting opposing offenses run around in circles everywhere except the end zone.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

According to my math that is 2.25 yards a completion. LOL.

I might be on of the few that think Weeden isn't as bad as everyone thinks he is. He will complete some passes. Your 'Boys will score some points. 17-21 is my guesstimate.

The problem is.....

There isn't a defense on this earth that is holding this offense under 40 points. I know that is arrogant but its the truth. They are playing with a pissed-off Cobra-Kai attitude. They will humiliate you. They will sweep legs and they will steal your chick. I think its gonna be the same kind of game it was in 2007 ..48-27 ish....

I want to know about Gregory, Lee and Hardy's availability. That's a lot of playmaking talent right there.

Well the Steelers did, but I think the offense started to gel after that game.

 

[shmessy]

I guess to neatly sum it up, BlueberryIcedCoffe (BTW, I'll have to try that) is that "elite" here is judged on January/February performance.

Sorry, if that comes off as "arrogant", but I'm sure that's what your compadres were saying about 20 years ago, too.

I'm sure there will come a time in a few years where we will be complaining about another team's fans being "arrogant". It's the way of the world.

 

[patriot1136]

I know it has been mentioned but I think it needs to be mentioned again. Romo is not elite. Don't get me wrong, he is a good player and seems like a nice guy, but he is not elite. Beasley has turned into a solid player and could do well against us, but the thing is BB knows this and is preparing to stop him. And, despite what some Cowboy fans say, Beasley is not Edelman. Not even close.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

An elite QB. Probably the best in the NFL.

Right now, Brady and Rodgers are the best in the league. You can't go wrong with either. Manning, Romo and Brees are the other elites right now.

I like Andrew Luck, but I disagree with the people calling him elite. He will be one day but he isn't at this point. Neither is Wilson.

In fairness, Romo is a highly skilled QB who, for some reason, screws up at the worst possible moments. For that reason, I'm reluctant to give him an "elite" rating. OTOH, you can count on 1 hand the number of high quality QB's in the league right now. P. Manning looks more and more like Chad Pennington each game. Luck has been awful.

The top five at the moment (in order): Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, and Carson Palmer.

 

[50-yard-line]

Greg Hardy on facing Brady: "I love seeing Tom Brady. You seen his wife? I hope she comes to the game. I hope her sister comes to the game."

Please keep interviewing Hardy this week, press guys...dude's playing with fire.

 

[captain insano]

False

Romo only threw 9 INTS last season and completed 70% of his throws. Brady threw 9 INTS. Brees threw 17. Romos controversial pass to Bryant vs GB was clutch. You can say that Romo had Bryant and Murray. OK, Brady has Belichick and Kraft.

This season was going to put Romo on the map. He really has grown as a QB.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb2014

not false. im talking about his whole career. not one season

 

[Tony2046]

I like certain Cowboys... Roger Staubach comes to mind.

I grew up a military brat in the 70's and 80's and no matter where we moved there always seemed to be a Cowboys game on. So I saw a lot of Staubach, Dorsett, Too tall Jones, Pearson, Hill et... It was a fun team to watch back then.

We don't have to run much though. We're very capable of throwing the ball 50-60 times and winning. The short quick passing game usually becomes a substitute for the run game vs teams with good running D.

Which is also used to offset any pass rush.

 

[Canuck]

Welcome to the board, great post. Before the season started and after Brady's suspension was lifted, this was one of my most anticipated games for a great match. An away game against a quality opponenet would be a great test to see how good the 2015 Patriots could be. Alas, with the injuries, the Patriots should be favored.
Still it should be an interesting game to watch.

Is Romo an elite QB. I guess it's whatever criteria one uses to qualify what an elite QB is. Some people rank Andrew Luck as an elite QB and rank him above Brady. Romo is an elite passer and a top 10 QB but lacks playoff success. Around here you have to have playoff success and SB wins as well as elite passer stats to be considered elite. I will say Romo played like an elite QB in 2014. If only he had more seasons like that.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Maybe we can get back to football and end this "elite" conversation - it's like politics or gun control - you can make all the good arguments you like, but you'll never convince anyone who disagrees with you.

So here's my football question:

I read that the Cowboy linebackers are fast but somewhat undersized. Belichick is all about match-ups, and so I wonder if we might be heading for a hefty dose of Blount and heavy tight-end packages alternating with play-action to attack what appears to be a modest group of back-end players.

Thoughts?

 

[The Brandon Five]

Greg Hardy on facing Brady: "I love seeing Tom Brady. You seen his wife? I hope she comes to the game. I hope her sister comes to the game."

Please keep interviewing Hardy this week, press guys...dude's playing with fire.

He also said he remembered the last time he played against Brady "he was on his back". Didn't the Pats win that game?

 

[blueberryicedcoffee]

Maybe we can get back to football and end this "elite" conversation - it's like politics or gun control - you can make all the good arguments you like, but you'll never convince anyone who disagrees with you.

So here's my football question:

I read that the Cowboy linebackers are fast but somewhat undersized. Belichick is all about match-ups, and so I wonder if we might be heading for a hefty dose of Blount and heavy tight-end packages alternating with play-action to attack what appears to be a modest group of back-end players.

Thoughts?

Sean Lee is a bit undersized for a LB at around 6'2, 235. But he is fast and meets ball carriers at the LOS and is a textbook tackler. He has Terminator-like instincts and somehow always knows where the ball carrier is going before the ball is snapped. The Cowboys are confident he will play Sunday, and you'll all get to see him. Watching Sean Lee is play is basically football pornography.

Ro McClain is perfect size for a MLB at 6'4, 255. He is very instinctive in the run game, but not great in the pass. He's not bad, he's just not our best LB in coverage. He is not as instinctive as Lee.

Andrew Gachkar and Anthony Hitchens are both undersized, but they like Sean Lee are fast and fly to the ball. Neither are as good as Lee.

Sean Lee is our best LB in coverage. He is an interception machine. Again, I do not know how we will cover Gronk. Byron Jones will certainly have something to do with it.

All in all I really like our LB group, and it's our best group on defense now that McClain is back (thanks Baltimore, he was definitely worth the 6th rounder)

 

[The Brandon Five]

"You have linebackers. We have a Gronk".

 

[blueberryicedcoffee]

False

Romo only threw 9 INTS last season and completed 70% of his throws. Brady threw 9 INTS. Brees threw 17. Romos controversial pass to Bryant vs GB was clutch. You can say that Romo had Bryant and Murray. OK, Brady has Belichick and Kraft.

This season was going to put Romo on the map. He really has grown as a QB.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb2014

This.

"Grown as a QB" is a great way to put it. All bias aside, if the Romo and Dez injuries never happened, I have no doubt he would be in the MVP conversation at the end of this season just like last season.

 

[blueberryicedcoffee]

He also said he remembered the last time he played against Brady "he was on his back". Didn't the Pats win that game?

The Panthers beat the Patriots 24-20 the last time Hardy played them.

 

[jah]

He also said he remembered the last time he played against Brady "he was on his back". Didn't the Pats win that game?

Technically, no.

 

[Tom_Montana12]

He also said he remembered the last time he played against Brady "he was on his back". Didn't the Pats win that game?

No, the Pats lost. Remember the controversial last play where Gronk didn't get the P.I. in the endzone that we all thought was warranted?